Explosive cartridge



July 26, 1960 R, Tmscou ETAL 2,946,284

EXPLOSIVE CARTRIDGE Filed July 18, 1957 INVENTORJ, LOUIS R. TRISCOLI HOLLIS L. MULLER JR. THOMAS o. CICCONE MAW 77% W1 waflwm 2,946,284 Patented July 26, 1960 EXPLOSIVE CARTRIDGE Louis R. Triscoli, Southampton, Hollis L. Muller, Jr., York Springs, and Thomas Q. Ciccone, Langhorne, Pa., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed July 18, 1957, Ser. No. 672,843 1 Claim. Cl. 102-39 (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to explosive cartridges such as are utilized to actuate the ejection mechanism of aircraft, and has for its principal object the provision of an improved cartridge wherein the primer is more efiectively shielded from any desensitizing eifect of the propellant and there is provided a seal which obviates the need of the aluminum disk formerly used to complete'the seal between the casing and head of the cartridge. It is a further object of our invention to so form the sealed end of the cartridge that a mechanical device containing a firing pin may be accurately brought into cooperative relation with the primer of the cartridge.

Our invention will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with accompanying drawings and its scope is indicated by the appended claims.

The single figure of the drawing illustrates a cartridge of the above type having a metal casing which encloses a double-base propellant 11. Adjacent the propellant 11 is a membrane 12 which is an integral part of a head member 14 which is made of aluminum and forms a closure for the head end of the cartridge Nested within the aluminum head member 14 is a primer-ignition cup 13.

In making the seal between the casing 10 and theolosure 14, a coating of Thiokol base adhesive or the like is applied between the contiguous surfaces of these members and the top of the casing is forced into a groove 15 and up over a rounded shoulder of the member 14. A shoulder 16 is so formed as to guide an external mechanism, which includes a firing pin, into operative relation with the cartridge as hereinafter explained.

The seal between the casing 10 and the member 14 has the important advantage that it omits the usual aluminum disk and O-ring of the prior art seal. In the use of this prior art seal, it has been found that the aluminum disk absorbed a large proportion of the energy delivered from the firing pin. The delivered energy, in the case of some mechanical devices, has been found to be marginal so that any further loss may result in unreliability of the cartridge. The omission of the aluminum disk results in a significant increase in sensitivity and reliability. Furthermore, the use of the prior art seal causes a change a,

in firing pin dimension which affect primer reliability. This is due to the fact that since the firing pin does not pierce the aluminum disk the .005" thickness aluminum disk joins the firing pin and together the total efiect is delivered to the primer. signed with a specific dimension, this change can amount to as much as .010" and has decidedly detrimental eflz'ect on the reliability of the primer performance- The use of the prior art cartridge with an external mechanism including a firing pin involved the difiiculty that there always existed the possibility of eccentricity between the firing pin and the primer. This had an adverse elfect on the functioning of the primer sometimes resulting in misfiring. This difiiculty is avoided by so forming the upper surface of the closure 14 that the firing pin and its associated mechanism (indicated by the reference numeral 17) are guided into a position where the firing pin is properly related to the primer.

Our invention thus provides an improved cartridge wherein the adverse efiect of the propellant on the primer is avoided, sensitivity and reliability are increased, and a cooperative relation between the primer and firing pin is ensured.

We claim: An explosive cartridge of the type for actuating ejection mechanism of an aircraft and having a metal case closed at one end and closed at its opposite end bya metal head member of larger diameter at least in part than is the major portion of said case andaround which said case is fitted, a double base propellant in said case between said head member and its closed end, a primer cup within said head member in its larger diameter portion, a metal membrane between said primer cup and propellant and integral with said metal head member, said head member and membrane being of one piece, said head member having an open recess outside of said primer cup but contiguous thereto and of larger diameter than said primer cup and larger than the radius of said head member'for guiding reception of a firing pin mechanism into axial alinement with said primer cup, the outer edge of said metal head outside said open recess being radially and longitudinally inwardly bevelled and an outer end of said case being bent over said outer edge of said head, whereby any gas from said propellant will pass between the headand ease and leak into the air rather than get into the primer cup and whereby a danger of misfire from eccentricity of the firing pin and its mechanism is reduced.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 148,532 .White Mar. 10, 1874 695,996 Bailey Mar. 25, 1905 2,667,837 Musser et al Feb. 2, 1954 2,759,420 Schultz Aug. 21, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS R 1,110,473 France Oct. "12, 1955 Since the firing pins are de- 

